Give Sight To The Blind Man

Today was day 3 of our mission. Each day has seen an increase in the level of poverty experienced by our patients and gives us more motivation to provide the best level of help we can muster. I am the Optometrist providing eye care to the patients and it has been the most humbling experience of my life. I did not even know about this mission until about 6 weeks ago and it was a true blessing from God how I came about deciding to go. I had always thought that I would like to participate in going on a mission and helping people but always came up with excuses or reasons not to do it. Who would I even need to call, how would I go about it, could I take that much time out of my practice??? Then I would forget about it and return to my hectic schedule and resume my comfortable life.

Each year I attend a convention to obtain continuing education for my specialty and it is always in October. About three months ago I had decided that this year I was not going to go since I had enough hours and was going to go next year when it was in Puerto Rico. I left the time blocked off on my schedule and was debating on whether I would take a vacation or go ahead and book patients. Then about 2 months ago I met a woman who was going on this mission and I thought wow, that is just what I have been wanting to do and here is this RN who is paying her own way and using her vacation and taking this time off to go help these people. I went three days later and applied for my passport just in case and when I spoke with her again I asked what the dates were of the trip and I was amazed that it was the exact week I had blocked off on my schedule. It was like God was saying,”OK, so now what is your excuse”?

I put out the word to my colleagues that I was going and asked them to help me get some glasses and medications donated to take with me. I contacted the pharmaceutical company that supplies medication and was told I needed 6 weeks to get donations and with less than 3 weeks before we left I figured it was useless but I sent the request anyway. The day before I left a box arrived with over 500 bottles of medication and a note from the lady who runs the department saying she felt moved for some reason to put this request through. I received over 250 pair of glasses from various doctors and patients and have already given out most of the to the patients we have seen.

So here we are in the hot, humid, tropical Dominican Republic riding the bus down bumpy dirt roads to the most remote areas you can imagine and unloading the truckload of medical supplies into a small cramped hot school house. I am dripping with sweat before we even get started and the team is working like a well oiled machine getting set up so we can get started with the crowd that has already grown to over 150 people. They stand patiently in the hot sun waiting for their turn to come and see the missionaries that have come to their village. There is no pushing, shoving or disrespect as they move slowly through the process of triage and into the clinic. They have to make a decision to either see the medical staff for health problems or see the eye doctor since there is not enough time to see both unless there is an obvious emergency. The purpose of our mission is primarily to witness to them and spread the word of God and also provide medical care to them in the process. Kenneth preaches to them and our staff witnesses to then while they wait and part of what they receive are a bible and pamphlets that reinforce the message they heard while waiting.

When they get to my station many have waited 4 to 6 hours to see me and the majority of their complaints are that they cannot see to read. I measure their vision and quickly determine their prescription and select the proper glasses to correct their vision. When I gave them something to read so they could see how they worked the look on their face is worth all the discomfort and effort it took to get here. A huge smile appears as the see many for the first time, clear words on the page. Then they would set aside the reading chart and quickly open up the bible they had been given and they get so excited when they know that they will be able to go home and read all bout this amazing God they learned about. They grab my hand and thank me with such joy and walk proudly out the door with their new glasses and their head held high.

The word quickly spread and the afternoon usually has many more patients wanting glasses. I work as fast as I can to help as many of them as we can get to knowing that we will be going to a different village the next day and starting the process all over again. I am honored to be able to be a part of this amazing team and thank God for allowing the pieces to fall in place so I could experience this. My patients in my practice are usually happy with their new glasses but very few are as excited as the villagers I have seen here on this trip. I would encourage anyone who has thought of doing this and never done it to push past the obstacles and excuses and just find a way to do it. It will be a life changing experience.

Dr. Rob